Alright, this is going to be a long blog, so for those of you that only want to read what interests you, I will make a little baby table of contents. You can pick and choose what you want to read by topic.
1. UPGRADE BABY!!
2. Pyramids
3. People of Egypt
4. Life in Egypt
5. Food
6. What I learned
1. UPGRADE BABY!!
Upon entering the hotel, we already had low expectations. The surroundings were shady and the building itself looked a little run down. We went in expecting a classic 2 queen-sized bed hotel room and were informed that we got a free upgrade. Still not having high hopes, we entered our room and the electricity did not work so we were moved to yet another room. When the lights went on, we all died a little inside. We paid for this little baby room and what did we get? A full apartment. Two bedrooms (one king size bed and 2 smaller beds). Three bathrooms. A living room, dining room, kitchen, study, and balcony with a view of Cairo. We paid maybe 700 for the whole trip (round trip plane tickets, hotel, 2 tours, and transportation everywhere) and ended up with a hotel room that originally cost $650 a night. SCORE. We even had one of those moments where the second the man left our room/apartment, we all started screaming, jumping, and embracing each other in excitement. We had the life.
2. Pyramids
Holy cow. We started with the pyramids of Saqqara, which were smaller and the main one was under some sort of construction. Here we went into a pyramid, which looked more like a huge pile of sand because of the erosion it had encountered over time. This was amazing, the hieroglyphs were incredible and we got to see the inside of a tomb that once held a mummy (which is now in a museum). The pyramids only got more epic when we ventured to Dahshur. Not only were these huge, but they were also mostly in tact. We climbed halfway up one of them so that we could reach the entrance and go inside which was TORTURE. Though it was awesome to do this, had I known how long I would have to crouch down and crawl to get to the main part...I may have reconsidered. We came out sweating and gasping for air. It was super cool to experience this though. We ended with the Giza Pyramids which were gigantic. We got to ride camels around the area (Sahara desert) and see the Sphinx. This was super cool, and I have to say that the camel ride made me the happiest person ever. Our tour guide, Ahmed, was also awesome and super helpful, acting as both a teacher and a photographer.
3. People of Egypt
The people of Egypt were an interesting mix of good and bad. The good was really good, they were super friendly people that were always kind and helpful. Our hotel staff gave us so much free stuff that I began to wonder what we did to deserve it. I had a personal bad experience with one staff member who though I was interested in him, which taught me a little lesson in how to act around different people. I quickly learned that though women can be forward in America and be sarcastic and talkative, it is taken as a completely different notion in other places. In other times, such as when we were on the boat on the Nile, we would pass boats with Egyptians on it and they would pull out their cameras and take pictures of us. It was an odd experience. Overall, I did not feel very comfortable leaving the hotel much without some sort of guide or form of transportation. Hotel staff (minus that one person)=fabulous.
4. Life in Egypt
Just when I thought that live in Athens was hard, it got worse when we traveled to Cairo. The city is very dirty, there are not lines on the streets and cars get terrifyingly close to each other while weaving in and out. The women are covered basically from head to toe. The cost of living is SO low, for dinner we would pay around 60 Egyptian Pounds for food and a drink, which equals around 10 US dollars. The main religion is Muslim and very often throughout the day you will hear the call to prayer from the Mosques around you. The ones that celebrate easter celebrate on a Monday, a week and one day after we do in the US, and only a day after Greeks celebrate.
5. Food
Mmm, omlets and pasta, ice cream and chocolate milk, baklava and cake, apple fig strudel and pizza, french fries and fresh juice, croissants and toast, crepes and yummyness. All either delivered to our room or made right in the restaurant downstairs.
6. When arriving in Athens, I had culture shock. I no longer had most of the luxuries that I did in the US. Not always hot, or even warm showers. Having to try to communicate to people that speak little English. Cooking our own food, and walking everywhere. Much more, but going to Cairo helped me appreciate Athens. Though the pyramids and Nile are epic, the city terrifies me. I would never have walked the streets at night. We could not drink the water because we would get sick. Because we could not walk around, we could not buy food to make, so we had to always order food. The people could understand our English but did not know how to communicate back to us, which made it impossible. I really learned that no matter where you are, you are always blessed with things that you don't even realize. The cliche "don't know what you got til its gone," is so true. I also had no connection to the world outside of the people in my immediate surroundings. With no internet and high costs of texting and phone calls, I could not talk to anyone. Though hard at first, I was surprised at how little it effected me. Besides my parents, there were not really any desires to get in touch with anyone.
Some other random highlights:
-Discovering we had the Disney channel
-Discovering we could flush our toilet paper
-Hot showers with good water pressure
-Tanning by the pool
-The sweet old man who served us breakfast
-Experiencing 3 Easters (US on Sunday, Greece the next Sunday, and Egypt the Monday after Greek Easter)
-Chocolate milk
-Boat ride on the Nile
-Getting totally ROASTED from sitting out
-Playing a late night game of taboo
1. UPGRADE BABY!!
2. Pyramids
3. People of Egypt
4. Life in Egypt
5. Food
6. What I learned
1. UPGRADE BABY!!
Upon entering the hotel, we already had low expectations. The surroundings were shady and the building itself looked a little run down. We went in expecting a classic 2 queen-sized bed hotel room and were informed that we got a free upgrade. Still not having high hopes, we entered our room and the electricity did not work so we were moved to yet another room. When the lights went on, we all died a little inside. We paid for this little baby room and what did we get? A full apartment. Two bedrooms (one king size bed and 2 smaller beds). Three bathrooms. A living room, dining room, kitchen, study, and balcony with a view of Cairo. We paid maybe 700 for the whole trip (round trip plane tickets, hotel, 2 tours, and transportation everywhere) and ended up with a hotel room that originally cost $650 a night. SCORE. We even had one of those moments where the second the man left our room/apartment, we all started screaming, jumping, and embracing each other in excitement. We had the life.
2. Pyramids
Holy cow. We started with the pyramids of Saqqara, which were smaller and the main one was under some sort of construction. Here we went into a pyramid, which looked more like a huge pile of sand because of the erosion it had encountered over time. This was amazing, the hieroglyphs were incredible and we got to see the inside of a tomb that once held a mummy (which is now in a museum). The pyramids only got more epic when we ventured to Dahshur. Not only were these huge, but they were also mostly in tact. We climbed halfway up one of them so that we could reach the entrance and go inside which was TORTURE. Though it was awesome to do this, had I known how long I would have to crouch down and crawl to get to the main part...I may have reconsidered. We came out sweating and gasping for air. It was super cool to experience this though. We ended with the Giza Pyramids which were gigantic. We got to ride camels around the area (Sahara desert) and see the Sphinx. This was super cool, and I have to say that the camel ride made me the happiest person ever. Our tour guide, Ahmed, was also awesome and super helpful, acting as both a teacher and a photographer.
3. People of Egypt
The people of Egypt were an interesting mix of good and bad. The good was really good, they were super friendly people that were always kind and helpful. Our hotel staff gave us so much free stuff that I began to wonder what we did to deserve it. I had a personal bad experience with one staff member who though I was interested in him, which taught me a little lesson in how to act around different people. I quickly learned that though women can be forward in America and be sarcastic and talkative, it is taken as a completely different notion in other places. In other times, such as when we were on the boat on the Nile, we would pass boats with Egyptians on it and they would pull out their cameras and take pictures of us. It was an odd experience. Overall, I did not feel very comfortable leaving the hotel much without some sort of guide or form of transportation. Hotel staff (minus that one person)=fabulous.
4. Life in Egypt
Just when I thought that live in Athens was hard, it got worse when we traveled to Cairo. The city is very dirty, there are not lines on the streets and cars get terrifyingly close to each other while weaving in and out. The women are covered basically from head to toe. The cost of living is SO low, for dinner we would pay around 60 Egyptian Pounds for food and a drink, which equals around 10 US dollars. The main religion is Muslim and very often throughout the day you will hear the call to prayer from the Mosques around you. The ones that celebrate easter celebrate on a Monday, a week and one day after we do in the US, and only a day after Greeks celebrate.
5. Food
Mmm, omlets and pasta, ice cream and chocolate milk, baklava and cake, apple fig strudel and pizza, french fries and fresh juice, croissants and toast, crepes and yummyness. All either delivered to our room or made right in the restaurant downstairs.
6. When arriving in Athens, I had culture shock. I no longer had most of the luxuries that I did in the US. Not always hot, or even warm showers. Having to try to communicate to people that speak little English. Cooking our own food, and walking everywhere. Much more, but going to Cairo helped me appreciate Athens. Though the pyramids and Nile are epic, the city terrifies me. I would never have walked the streets at night. We could not drink the water because we would get sick. Because we could not walk around, we could not buy food to make, so we had to always order food. The people could understand our English but did not know how to communicate back to us, which made it impossible. I really learned that no matter where you are, you are always blessed with things that you don't even realize. The cliche "don't know what you got til its gone," is so true. I also had no connection to the world outside of the people in my immediate surroundings. With no internet and high costs of texting and phone calls, I could not talk to anyone. Though hard at first, I was surprised at how little it effected me. Besides my parents, there were not really any desires to get in touch with anyone.
Some other random highlights:
-Discovering we had the Disney channel
-Discovering we could flush our toilet paper
-Hot showers with good water pressure
-Tanning by the pool
-The sweet old man who served us breakfast
-Experiencing 3 Easters (US on Sunday, Greece the next Sunday, and Egypt the Monday after Greek Easter)
-Chocolate milk
-Boat ride on the Nile
-Getting totally ROASTED from sitting out
-Playing a late night game of taboo
No comments:
Post a Comment